Stores throughout Frisco saw steady business on Black Friday, but some Redhawks are opting out of shopping in-person and waiting for Cyber Monday.
“I used to go [Black Friday Shopping] with my mom all the time,” senior Rida Zaki said. “My mom and I used to go shopping until 1 or 2 a.m. I remember it being a fun experience and we used to find really good deals. Now I prefer Cyber Monday just because it’s less crowded and less stressful.”
According to a report by Retail Boss, 68% of consumers are planning on shopping online and 2.5 times as many people will be shopping online in comparison to the amount of people shopping in-person.
“I’ve noticed since COVID-19 happened, people switched to online shopping and realized how convenient it is,” junior Addison LeBlanc said. “Now in-person shopping is less popular and I haven’t gone Black Friday shopping.”
It isn’t just retailers and analysts who are noticing this trend either. Gen-Z TikTok users have taken to the app to express the change from their childhood Black Friday shopping memories to what it is now.
“I used to go a lot more often pre-COVID and stand in lines really early in the morning at any store my family wanted something from,” junior Ashvita Suresh Kumar said. “However, now I just shop online even on a regular day over in-person.”
Another factor in the shift to more online shopping could be due to the lack of big deals on Black Friday. According to the Washington Post, this could be a result of increased inventory and supply chain costs.
“I feel like Black Friday sales aren’t as good as they used to be,” Zaki said. “Recently I’ve seen a lot of sales with 20-30 percent off which isn’t a lot. I think 20-30 percent sales happen throughout the year which makes Black Friday less important.”
Some customers are also becoming more savvy when it comes to saving money and may be less likely to fall for a store marking up prices of items and putting them on “sale” for the original prices, or putting a sale poster or sticker up and not changing the price at all.
“I’ve definitely heard about stores pretending like they were having some major deals and discounts when in reality they weren’t,” LeBlanc said. “I didn’t know or think it was true until I saw videos comparing prices and it was really surprising.”
